Roger is the only one concerned with speeding up the courts these days it seems. He would like to help to end the constant
grind-fests and injuries on the tour and he is lending his voice to a cause to save Tennis for many fans bored of these 5-6 hour marathons.

This is from Tennis Earth:

Quote:

Roger Federer joined the likes of Pat Cash to use faster court on the tour as the slower surfaces not only come to rescue of the defensive players but also cause rally to last longer and increase the chances of injuries.

Federer asserted that the aggressive style of play that is well suited on the hard courts and the grass courts has also lost its advantage as they're now designed to be slower than they used to be.

"It's an easy fix,” said Federer failing to defend his ATP World Tour Finals title. “Just make quicker courts, then it's hard to defend. Having an attacking style is more important. It's only on this type of slow courts that you can defend the way we are all doing right now."

With the initiation of faster courts, Federer believes that other players will have a chance to challenge the ‘Big 4’. “I think some variety would be nice, some really slow stuff and then some really fast stuff, instead of trying to make everything sort of the same," commented Federer. “You sort of protect the top guys really by doing that because you have the best possible chance to have them in the semis at this point, I think. But should that be the goal? I'm not sure.”

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash also addressed the subject of slower courts, Cash said, “It is taking a heavy toll. I don’t want to see more and more players getting exhausted and injured, and I also don’t want to see everyone playing the same sort of game. The slow abrasive court surface contributes to more extended rallies and therefore longer matches.”

“Just the other week, Djokovic and Murray contested a best of three sets final in Shanghai that lasted three and a half hours. Back in my day, we hardly ever went beyond two. And of course it’s almost routine now for best-of-five sets encounter on hard courts in Grand Slam to stretch beyond the five hours mark. Remember this year’s Australian and US Open finals.”

Bravo, Roger!

In other news, it appears that Rogers split with IMG Management is primarily responsible not only for the Abu Dhabi snub, but also his decision to skip the Miami Masters. IMG was recently involved in an embarrassing betting scandal, so Roger's judgement is sound in my opinion.

Meanwhile, Rafa continues to sponsor with ill-advised "Poker Stars". I wish Roger could impart his wisdom to Rafa sometimes, but what can he do other than serve as an example. They seem like they are drifting apart in so many ways.

As usual, Roger is correct about these things. Since this is the greatest player of all time talking, they will surely listen and speed up the courts. That would be best for the tour. It also means that Nadal will lose more often, which is always good for tennis.

It better happen. The tour was almost dead a few years ago with Nadal winning everything. Nowadays, it's slightly better with Nadal gone for the moment, Roger getting back #1 and Andy winning a slam. Djokovic messes it all up but at least he's not as bad as Nadal.

Have to laugh at Roger fans presenting this as him caring for the game! He's benefited from the slower courts throughout his career - far easier for him to rack up all those Wimbledons and US Opens in an era which didn't favour big servers than in the 90s. It's only now that Djokovic, Murray etc. have a clear advantage over him on those courts and he's a step slower that he has spoken about this issue - he's been on tour 14+ years, is in his 30s - speaking about it isn't showing leadership, it's pure self interest.

Also, apart from minorities of vocal fans on messageboards the vast majority of the public don't seem to have an issue with the court speed. Tennis is far more popular now than in late 90s - the top stars get great coverage, top events sell out etc. I'd be happy to see more variety but the idea that all courts are the same is a nonsense anyway. If they were we'd see the likes of Almagro picking up 250 hardcourt/indoor titles rather than only winning on clay and vice versa for those with terrible clay records. If the hard courts are a little slower it's also true that the clay is a little faster.

So it's great for Federer to talk about the top guys being "protected" but it might have meant more if he'd wanted any change when it would have been adverse to him. No doubt Nadal, Djokovic and Murray will disagree and why wouldn't they - they'll all favour the type of court that helps them.